Product Description

User Reviews

Overall Rating:

Value Rating:

Submitted by
benpriest707@hotmail.com
a Casual Listener

Date Reviewed: April 4, 2008

Bottom Line:

It seems to me that there are a lot of people on here with more money than.....well, me. lol. Most of what i own, came from Circut City. But....i enjoy what i have, and after having this amp for 3 years, i would recommend it to anyone. The power rating made me hesitant (spellcheck) at first. I think if you talk to anyone with this receiver, that you will get the same response. The power is there. The Logic 7 has great sound, and i use that for most movies and music. However, Stereo mode is absolutely incredible. I find myself more and more just using that mode for music now. I'm not running anything super fancy for speakers, (Infinity Beta Series) but i do have the same speakers for the 7.1, which gives me the same sound-field.

It was the great reviews and sensational looks that drew my to buy this receiver and I have to say, it was a big mistake. When the receiver was running, it was sensational but after only 1 month's use, it started to 'freeze' and the sound started cutting in and out. I spoke to harmon Kardon service centre and they informed me that even though it was only 4 weeks old, I was not eligle for a new unit and that i had to send it away for reairs!!. It was sent to an authorised service centre where they had it for 6 WEEKS (longer than I had it for) before telling me it was ready. I plugged it in and once again it froze in the first 10 minutes. I was etremely dissapointed. I contacted the rep again and was informed that I was still not eligle for a replacement unit and that it now had to be shipped interstate to a 'better' authorised repairer. I bluntly refused and had to get consumer affairs involved for me to finally get my money back. Very dissapointing from a company that I thought would back their products. I am now the proud owner of a Denon 3806. I paid $1500 Australian.

My Carver CMV-1135 Intergrated Dolby Pro Logic amplifier finally checked out. I decided to upgrade to dolby digital instead of repairing the carver. I did a lot of homework looked at and auditioned Sunfire, Pioneer, Sony and others. The Harman Kardon AVR635 was recomended to me by a friend of mine, Rolland Barr at carveraudiorepair.com and hitechaudioltd.com. I went and auditioned the AVR635 at several dealers and bought it at Circuit City for $849.00 after comparing features and prices of other units. I brought it home and set it up. Set up was very easy for me. This unit has many features and inputs that are easy to use and configure. My speakers are: Energy XL series front L&R, Wharfdale center channel and Polk M series in the rear. The subwoofer is a 12" AR powered by a Crest CC151 Studio Referance amplifier.
I was blown away with the HK AVR 635. The rating of 75wpc is VERY conservative! I am very pleased with the performance of this unit in stereo mode for music and in dolby digital mode for home theatre. I cannot praise Harman Kardon enough for packing such value and performance into this unit! It produces absolutly transparent and accurately detailed sound and the bass is tight and abundant.

Let me start out by saying that this I did alot of research and read alot of reviews before I purchased this reciever to match up with my Monitor Audio Silver Series speakers. Right now they are being used for a stereo setup but will be moving into a home theatre as the budget allows. This is why I decided to go with an AV reciever in the first place. I listen to all kinds of music from classical, jazz, country, classic rock, and even some R&B. First I tried the yamaha and it was way to bright with this match up. Then I tried the Pioneer. It was much better but lacked some of the high end detail and the bass always sounded kind of loose. I thought about going the seperate's route and started to check out what Rotel had to offer, as I have heard that they are a pretty good match up. Taking a chance I had seen some other message boards where people were matching up the HK recievers with Monitor Audio speakers with great results. So before I purchased the rotel amplifier I decided to try the HK AVR635. I am glad I did. The sound is very neutral with maybe a very small leaning on the warm side. It works great with my Monitor Audio speakers. Lots of detail, tight deep bass and excelent mid bass. Voices sound clean and clear, and piano music makes you feel like you are there listening in concert. The soundstage is good. Not great but in the top of what this price range has to offer. The system is still a little bright but not fatiguing. This is due mostly to my speaker configuration, not the reciever. If anything it will help calm bright speakers such as klipsch, NHT, monitor audio and so on. DO NOT BE TURNED OFF BY THE WATTAGE RATING. This thing puts out way more power than the rating on the box. It is a very powerful reciever.
If there is a downside I would say that it lacks some of the features of other recievers in its price range. It is also a little expensive if you compare spec sheets. But if you are looking for a good quality reciever for movies or music do yourself a favor and audition one of these before you make a decision. I give this reciever 4 stars. Not because it does not deserve a 5 but I believe there is always room for improvement. If I could give it 4.5 stars I would :)

Related AVR 635 Forum Posts

I just spent a lot of time getting my sub blended in with my Clearfields via 2 Ch setup. I have not calibrated the Harman Kardon for a long time and well before my current mains and amp. Last night I decided to run through the EZQ setup before watching 2012. It seems to be sending both the sub and t ... Read More »

I'm trying to decide between Denon's AVR-3805 A/V receiver and Harman Kardon's AVR-635 A/V receiver. I can get either one for about $700. I'm leaning towards the Denon because I've heard its sound quality is a little better, but I light the look and aesthetics that the Harman Kardon offers. I'd l ... Read More »

I have a Harman Kardon AVR 635. The one thing I don't like about it is that you can only use the full on screen display (OSD) when using an S Video from the reciever to the tv. You need the full OSD to set delays and gains and some other high level menu items. I am fine with this as I just run co ... Read More »

With the HK AVR-635, do you need to run the EZSET/EQ for each source or just once for the system? Also, can you do the EZSET/EQ without using the onscreen display (onscreen display is not available if you run component to monitor)? Can you set-up the system for the different sources at the panel a ... Read More »